Alaska Air Group enjoys increased December traffic

Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) has reported December and year-end operational results for its subsidiaries, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, showing increases in December traffic.

Alaska reported a 6.5 percent increase in traffic on a 4.5 percent increase in capacity compared to December 2012. This resulted in a 1.7-point increase in load factor, to a record 88.0 percent. Alaska also reported 85.5 percent of its flights arrived on time in December, compared to the 83.3 percent reported in December 2012. For the full-year 2013, Alaska reported a load factor of 86.1 percent and carried a record 19.7m passengers.

Horizon reported a 3.9 percent increase in December traffic on flat capacity compared to December 2012. This resulted in a 3.1-point increase in load factor, to a December record of 82.5 percent. Horizon also reported 78.5 percent of its flights arrived on time in December, compared to the 85.2 percent reported in December 2012. For the full-year 2013, Horizon reported a record load factor of 80.8 percent and carried 7.1m passengers.

On a combined basis, Air Group reported a 6.7 percent increase in traffic on a 4.6 percent increase in capacity compared to December 2012. This resulted in a 1.8-point increase in load factor to a record 87.5 percent. These statistics include flights operated by Alaska and those under capacity purchase arrangements, including Horizon, SkyWest and a small third-party carrier in the state of Alaska.

Alaska Airlines, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), together with its partner regional airlines, serves nearly 100 cities through an expansive network in Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. The company´s website is at www.alaskaair.com.